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1 Now Yahqob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of Yahqob, Yoseph being seventeen years old was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives and Yoseph brought a bad report of them to his father. 3 Now Ysrayl loved Yoseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic (robe, coat) of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. 5 Now Yoseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers and they hated him even more. 6 So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed”. 7 “There we were binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf”. 8 And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us”? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me”. 10 So he told it to his father and his brothers and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you”? 11 And his brothers envied him but his father kept the matter in mind.

Yoseph Sold by His Brothers

12 Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 And Ysrayl said to Yoseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them”. So he said to him, “Here I am”. 14 Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring back word to me”. So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron and he went to Shechem. 15 Now a certain man found him and there he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking”? 16 So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks”. 17 And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan”. So Yoseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. 18 Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming”! 20 “Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit and we shall say, “Some wild beast has devoured him. We shall see what will become of his dreams”! 21 But Reuben heard it and he delivered him out of their hands and said, “Let us not kill him”. 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness and do not lay a hand on him”. That he might deliver him out of their hands and bring him back to his father. 23 So it came to pass, when Yoseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Yoseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty. There was no water in it. 25 And they sat down to eat a meal. then they lifted their eyes and looked and there was a company of Ishmaylites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing spices, balm and myrrh on their way to carry them down to Egypt.

26 So Yahudah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood”? 27 “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaylites and let not our hand be upon him for he is our brother and our flesh”. And his brothers listened. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. So the brothers pulled Yoseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaylites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Yoseph to Egypt. 29 Then Reuben returned to the pit and indeed Yoseph was not in the pit and he tore his clothes. 30 And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad is no more and I, where shall I go”? 31 So they took Yoseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 Then they sent the tunic of many colors and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not”? 33 And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Yoseph is torn to pieces”. 34 Then Yahqob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist and mourned for his son many days. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him but he refused to be comforted and he said, “For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning”. Thus his father wept for him. 36 Now the Midianites (Medanites) had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar an officeer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

Chapter 38: Yahudah and Tamar

1 It came to pass at that time that Yahudah departed from his brothers and visited a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. 2 And Yahudah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua and he married her and went into her. So she conceived and bore a son and he called his name Er. 4 She conceived again and bore a son and she called his name Onan. 5 And she conceived yet again and bore a son and called his name Shelah (or Shiloh). He was at Chezib when she bore him.

*Shiloh became the father of the Shelanites, Numbers 26:20.

6 Then Yahudah took a wife for Er his firstborn and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Yahudah’s firstborn was wicked in the sight of Yah and Yah killed him. 8 And Yahudah said to Onan, “Go into your brother’s wife and marry her and raise up an heir to your brother”. 9 But Onan knew that the heir would not be his and it came to pass when he went into his brother’s wife that he emitted on the ground, lest he should give an heir to his brother. 10 And the thing which he did displeased Yah therefore He killed him also. 11 Then Yahudah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house til my son Shelah is grown”. For he said, “Lest he also die like his brothers”. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house. 12 Now in the process of time the daughter of Shua, Yahudah’s wife died and Yahudah was comforted and went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And it was told (to) Tamar saying, “Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep”. 14 So she took off her widow’s garments, covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself and sat in an open place which was on the way to Timnah for she saw that Shelah was grown and she was not given to him as a wife. 15 When Yahudah saw her, he thought she was a harlot because she had covered her face.

16 Then he turned to her by the way and said, “Please let me come into you”. For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. So she said, “What will you give me that you may come in to me”? 17 And he said, “I will send a young goat from the flock”. So she said, “Will you give me a pledge til you send it”? 18 Then he said, “What pledge shall I give you”? So she said, “Your signet and cord and your staff that is in your hand”. Then he gave them to her and went in to her and she conceived by him. 19 So she arose and went away and laid aside her veil and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20 And Yahudah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend Adullamite to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand but he did not find her. 21 Then he asked the men of that place saying, “Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside?” And they said, “There was no harlot in this place”. 22 So he returned to Yahduah and said, “I cannot find her. Also the men of the place said there was no harlot in this place”. 23 Then Yahudah said, “Let her take them for herself, lest we be shamed. For I sent this young goat and you have not found her”. 24 And it came to pass, about three months after that Yahudah was told saying, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot. Furthermore, she is with child by harlotry”. So Yahudah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned”! 25 When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law saying, “By the man to whom these belong, I am with child”. And she said, “Please determine whose these are–the signet, cord and staff”. 26 So Yahudah acknowledged them and said, “She has been more righteous than I because I did not give her to Shelah my son”. And he never knew her again. 27 Now it came to pass, at the time for giving birth that behold twins were in her womb. 28 And so it was when she was giving birth that the one put out his hand and the midwife took a scarlet thread and bound it on his hand saying, “This one came out first”. 29 Then it happened, as he drew back his hand, that his brother came out unexpectedly and she said, “How did you break through? This breech be upon you”! Therefore, his name was called Perez (Pereths) (literally breech or breakthrough). 30 Afterward, his brother came out who had the scarlet thread on his hand. And his name was called Zerah.

*Zerah became the family named Zarhites. Pherez became the family Pharezites, Numbers 26:20, then the Hezronites in Numbers 26:21 the Messianic line.

*Tamar means palm tree or date palm (tree) or upright (like a palm tree). This name describes her character. Yahudah said she is more righteous than I.

Update 11-14-2015: It’s interesting that in Matthithyah 1 besides Myriam only four other women are mentioned: Rahab, Bathshua (inferred), Ruth and Tamar. We broke the Book of Ruth down. Now let’s look at Tamar. Yahudah tried to forget her at one point in this story but Yah would not let her be forgotten because we read about her in Matthithyah chapter one. Isn’t it also interesting that the twin of Pherez, Zerah is mentioned in Matthithyah chapter one even though the bloodline did not pass through him? Esau is not mentioned next to Yahqob because he was evil in the sight of Yah.

Some questions that went through my mind when reading this story: Yahudah’s wife was Canaanite, so was Tamar a Canaanite too? Why did Er and Onan find Tamar repulsive?

We read that in Genesis 38:6 that Yahudah acquired a wife for his first-born son Er. But Genesis does not give us detail of where he acquired her from. According to the Book of the 12 Patriachs, the Testament of Yahudah, Tamar was from Mesopotamia and the daughter of Aram (of Genesis chapter 10:22?). But According to the Book of Yasher chapter 45 Tamar was clearly from the house of Shem.

Yasher 45 (XLV):23 And in those days Yahudah went to the house of Shem and took Tamar the daughter of Ylam, the son of Shem for a wife for his first born Er. (See Genesis chapter 10, Ylam the son of Shem).

When the rest of the testament of Yahudah is read, you will understand why most likely Tamar was from the house of Shem like the Book of Yasher says. Chapter 10 of the Testament of Yahudah says that Yahudah’s wife went behind his back scheming with Er not to sleep with Tamar because she was not from the land of Canaan. And Er obeyed his mother not sleeping with her for a year. Yahudah demanded that Er sleep with Tamar but Er does not complete the act and spills his semen on the floor. The Book of Yasher says the same thing.

Yasher 45:24 And Er came to his wife Tamar and she became his wife and when he came to her he outwardly destroyed his seed and his work was evil in the sight of Yah and Yah killed him.

Why didn’t Onan in Genesis 38:8 complete the act according to Deuteronomy 25:5-6? Genesis 38:9 says that Onan knew this offspring would not be his own. So he was selfish to his brother and Yah killed him for this. Both Er and Onan pass up the privelege of being in the Messianic line. Ain’t that something? Compare this to Boaz doing what was righteous compared to his older brother who passed on the privelege of being in the Messianic genealogy.

Back to the Testament of Yahudah: Yahudah was going to give Shiloh to Tamar but his mother would not allow it and behind Yahudah’s back (remember Yahudah was a heavy alcoholic drinker so when you are drunk you don’t know what is going on in your household), she went and found a Canaanite woman for Shiloh. So this is why we don’t read about why Shiloh wasn’t given to Tamar. Genesis 38:11 says Yahudah did not want Shiloh to die also like his brothers. Yahudah may have feared Shiloh would reject her like his brothers and die but Yahudah waited too long and this gave his wife time to do more scheming. Yahudah wasn’t going to keep Shiloh away from Tamar forever and break the law of Yah (hopefully). Yahudah may have been also listening to the voice of his wife concerning Shiloh and sent Tamar away. Yahudah finds out in chapter 11 of the Testament of Yahudah what his wife had done and curses her and wished he had never married a Canaanite woman. Genesis 38:12 just says that his wife died. She died after he cursed her according to his testament. Two years later according to the Testament of Yahudah, Tamar hears that Yahudah is going to shear sheep and dresses as a prostitute.

In chapter 13:3 of the Testament of Yahudah, he says the spirits of envy and lust plotted against him!! He knew which spirits worked against him. Yahudah confesses that all this concerning his children happened because he transgressed Yah’s laws concerning Canaanite women (Yahudah like Solomon was unequally yoked). Yahudah said he had no delight in the Canaanite woman’s children…Er, Onan and Shiloh. The law he broke is Genesis 24:3-4 and repeated in Deuteronomy 7:1-4, these nations were worshiping the gods and they taught their children to worship the gods and they turned their husbands hearts to the gods. Yahudah said Shua, his Canaanite wife was decked out in gold and pearls when they first met and there was a dowry of gold attached to her. I remember reading that Balaam came up with a way to cause Israylite men to sin (through lust and fornication) by sending Midian women dressed only in gold because he knew they would be a stumbling block to the Israylite man since Yah stopped him from cursing (all) Ysrayl. Shua’s father had her dressed up.

Testament of Yahudah 13:3 Yahudah boasted that no beautiful woman could entice me, like it enticed Reuben concerning Reuben sleeping with his father’s wife, Bilhah. So you know the devil went and petitioned Yah…

Testament of Yahudah chapter 15, Yahudah says the promiscuous man is an unstable man. Promiscuity caused him to give his staff/walking stick (the stability of my tribe) and my girdle (or signet because girdle is defined as an ornament or ring) (the signet represents his power or authority from Yah) and my crown (the crown is the esteem of the kingdom). According to Yasher 36:15, Reuben lost his kingship and priestly crown because of sexual immorality. Also compare Yahudah and David, both having sexual sins. Both Yahudah and David had wives named Bathshua. When Yahudah gave his signet and walking stick/staff to Tamar it was also symbolism for Tamar’s child being given the bloodline of the Messiyah. Read Genesis 49:10 the scepter does not part from Yahudah. Er and Onan represent the first born sons and Pherez and Zerah represent the second born sons. Isn’t it interesting that Tamar was paid with a goat yet she was shrewd enough to get his walking stick and signet ring for proof of who her baby’s father was. She was thinking ahead. Tamar was doing Yah’s will: Having a baby from the house of Yahudah. The baby was her goal.

Why did Yahudah say ‘she is more righteous than I’ in Genesis 38:26? He was about to kill Tamar after he finds out she is pregnant because he thought she was a (physical) whore yet he went to a woman who he thought was a prostitute and paid her with a goat (which was to be given later) to fornicate (like he talked about in his testament, promiscuity). Tamar knowingly slept with her father-in-law. Leviticus 18:15 says not to uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law but I am not sure if this was a commandment at this time. Yahudah says I should have given my son Shiloh to her (inferring here and this never would have happened). Yahoshua says that there will be prostitutes in the kingdom because they believed Him (infers also that they repented to Him) Matthew 21:31. So maybe Tamar repented of this behavior too, after all her name is listed in Matthew chapter 1. Yah found something righteous about her and wanted her in the genealogy of Yahoshua. Tamar knew the law concerning a deceased brother.

Yahudah says in Genesis 38:26 that he never knew or slept with Tamar again. In the Testament of Yahudah, he repents from wine, meat (and maybe wives) for the rest of his life. This is just like King David put his wives away and did not get more after Abishalom his son slept with them in 2 Shemuyah. Doesn’t it seem like public ridicule comes along with the territory of sexual sins? Why does Yahudah repent of meat? Yahudah may have been eating unclean meat.

Genesis 38:27-30 Yah blesses Yahudah with twins. A double blessing. Yah took two sons away then replaced them with two more sons (the second born). According to the Book of Yasher 45:32, Yahudah named the twins. So he was present around their birth and circumcision. The way the twins were born was symbolic too, Zerah was coming out first but the second born Pherez comes out first. The second born took the Messianic genealogy here.

*If I hear or read anything else, I will be back to add it here. If there are any corrections to be made, I will come back and make them.

*Update 11-24-2015: There’s something about why these four women: Rahab, Bathshua, Ruth and Tamar are named in Matthew chapter 1. Some had sexual sins (adultery), some were prostitutes (or acted like one), some were foreigners (or at least for awhile). I noticed even in Luke 1:48 that Myriam considered herself lowly. She infers that she is a low ranking person or in a low state or humble state. These women were not in high ranking positions in society or at least when Yah choose them yet here they are in Yahoshua’s family tree. Yah reads the heart of men…and women.

*Update 11-27-2015: From Yahudah’s Repentance: …And Yahudah knew that the deed which he did was evil because he lay with his daughter-in-law. And he condemned himself in his own sight. And he knew that he had sinned and gone astray because he uncovered the robe of his son. And he began to mourn and make supplication before Yah on account of his sin. And we (angels sent by Yah?) (or Yah) told him in a dream that it was forgiven him because he made great supplication and because he mourned and did not do it again. Jubilees 41:23-24. So this answers my question, it was a sin for Yahudah to uncover the nakedness of his son.

*Update 04-06-2016: Yesterday, I was reading the testament of Reuben. After Reuben was punished by Yah and he repented for sleeping with his father’s concubine, Bilhah and Yahqob forgave and prayed for him, Reuben also repents from eating meat like Yahudah. So, Yahudah did not sin by eating unclean meat. Reuben says that he stopped eating meat and ALL pleasurable foods. They did this to stop the pleasure or lust demon. It became about control. Self-control. Shaul speaks a lot about this in the “new testament”. When a drug addict or alcoholic stops their behavior, they cut it off, from the source. Reuben and Yahudah did the same with the lust demon. 04-13-2016: Yahoshua talks, several times, about cutting off sin. Read Matthityah 5:29-30 and Mattithyah 18:8-9.

1 Then Yah said to Yahqob, “Arise, go up to Bethyl and dwell there and make an altar there to Yah who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother”. 2 And Yahqob said to his household and to all who were with him. “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves and change your garments”. 3 “Then let us arise and go up to Bethyl and I will make an altar there to Yah who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone”. 4 So they gave Yahqob all the foreign gods which were in their hands and the earrings which were in their ears and Yahqob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem. 5 So they journeyed and the terror of Yah was upon the cities that were all around them and they did not pursue the sons of Yahqob. 6 So Yahqob came to Luz (that is, Bethyl) which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. 7 And he built an altar there and called the place YL Bethyl (literally Power of the House of Power or Yah) because there Yah appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother. 8 Now Deborah, Ribqahyah’s nurse died and she was buried below Bethyl under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth (literally Terebinth of Weeping). 9 Then Yah appeared to Yahqob again when he came from Padan Aram and blessed him. 10 And Yah said to him, “Your name is Yahqob. Your name shall not be called Yahqob anymore but Ysrayl shall be your name.” So He called his name Ysrayl. 11 Also Yah said to him: “I am Yah Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you and kings shall come from your body”. 12 “The land which I gave Abraham and Yitzshaq, I give to you and to your descendants after you, I give this land”. 13 Then Yah went up from him in the place where He talked with him. 14 So Yahqob set up a pillar in the place where He talked with Him, a pillar of stone and he poured a drink offering on it and he poured oil on it. 15 And Yahqob called the name of the place where Yah spoke with him, Bethyl.

Death of Rachyl

16 Then they journeyed from Bethyl. And when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachyl labored in childbirth and she had hard labor. 17 Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor that the midwife said to her, “Do not fear. You will have this son also”. 18 And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died) that she called his name Ben-Oni (literally son of my sorrow) but his father called him Benyamin (Son of the right hand). 19 So Rachyl died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is Bethlehem). 20 And Yahqob set a pillar on her grave which is the pillar of Rachyl’s grave to this day. 21 Then Ysrayl journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 And it happened, when Ysrayl dwelt in that land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine and Ysrayl heard about it.

Yahqob’s Twelve Sons

Now the sons of Yahqob were twelve: 23 The sons of Leyah were Reuben, Yahqob’s firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Yahudah (Judah), Issachar and Zebulon. 24 The sons of Rachyl were Yoseph and Benyamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant were Dan and Naphtali. 26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leyah’s maidservant were Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Yahqob who were born to him in Padan Aram.

Death of Yitzshaq

27 Then Yahqob came to his father Yitzshaq at Mamre or Kiryath Arba (Town of Arba) (that is, Hebron) where Abraham and Yitzshaq had dwelt. 28 Now the days of Yitzshaq were one hundred and eighty years. 29 So Yitzshaq breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people being old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Yahqob buried him.

Chapter 36: The Family of Esau

1 Now this is the genealogy of Esau, who is Edom. 2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite. 3 And Basemath, Ishmayl’s daughter, sister of Nebayoth. 4 Now Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau and Basemath bore Reuyl. 5 And Aholibamah bore Yeush, Yaalam and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters and all the persons of his household, his cattle and all his animals and all his goods which he had gained in the land of Canaan and went to a country away from the presence of his brother Yahqob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together and the land where they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom. 9 And this is the genealogy of Esau the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. 10 These were the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau and Reuyl the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho (spelled Zephi in 1 Chronicles 1:36), Gatam and Kenaz. 12 Now Timna was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau’s son and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife. 13 These were the sons of Reuyl: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 14 These were the sons of Aholibamah, Esau’s wife, the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon. And she bore to Esau: Yeush, Yaaalam and Korah.

The Chiefs of Edom

15 These were the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn son of Esau, were Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz 16 Chief Korah, Chief Gatam and Chief Amalek. These were the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. They were the sons of Adah. 17 These were the sons of Reuyl, Esau’s son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah and Chief Mizzah. These were the chiefs of Reuyl in the land of Edom. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife. 18 And these were the sons of Aholibamah, Esau’s wife: Chief Yeush, Chief Yaalam and Chief Korah. These were the chiefs who descended from Aholibamah, Esau’s wife, the daughter of Anah. 19 These were the sons of Esau, who is Edom and these were their chiefs.

The Sons of Seir

20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite who inhabited the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah 21 Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam (spelled Homam in 1 Chronicles 1:39). Lotan’s sister was Timna. 23 And the sons of Shobal: Alvan (spelled Alian in 1 Chronicles 1:40), Manahath, Ebal, Shepho (spelled Shephi in 1 Chronicles 1:40). 24 These were the sons of Zibeon: both Ayah and Anah. This was Anah who found the water (hot springs) in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon. 25 These were the children of Anah: Dishon and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 These were the sons of Dishon (Hebrew Dishan): Hemdan (spelled Hamran in 1 Chronicles 1:41), Eshban, Ithran and Cheran. 27 These were the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan (spelled Yaakan in 1 Chronicles 1:42). 28 These were the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These were the chiefs of the Horites: Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah 30 Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer and Chief Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.

The Kings of Edom

31 Now these were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Ysrayl: 32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 33 And when Bela died, Yobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. 34 When Yobab died, Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35 And when Husahm died, Hadad the son of Bedad who attacked Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his place. And the name of his city was Avith. 36 When Hadad died, Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 And when Hadad died, Shaul of Rehoboth-by-the-River reigned in his place. 38 When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 And when Baal-Hanan the son of Achbor died, Hadar (spelled Hadad in 1 Chronicles 1:50) reigned in his place and the name of his city was Pau (spelled Pai in 1 Chronicles 1:50). His wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

The Chiefs of Esau

40 And these were the names of the chiefs of Esau according to their families and their places by their names: Chief Timnah, Chief Alvah (spelled Aliah in 1 Chronicles 1:51), Chief Yetheth 41 Chief Aholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon 42 Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar 43 Chief Magdiel and Chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession. Esau was the father of the Edomites.

1 Now Yahqob lifted his eyes and looked and there, Esau was coming with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leyah, Rachyl and the two maidservants. 2 And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leyah and her children behind and Rachyl and Yoseph last. 3 Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times until he came near to his brother. 4 But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him and they wept. 5 And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children and said, “Who are these with you”? So he said, “The children whom Yah has graciously given your servant”. 6 Then the maidservants came near, they and their children and bowed down. 7 And Leyah also came near with her children and they bowed down. Afterward Yoseph and Rachyl came near and they bowed down. 8 Then Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met”? And he said, “These are to find favor in the sight of my master”. 9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother, keep what you have for yourself”. 10 And Yahqob said, “No, please, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present from my hand inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of Yah and you were pleased with me”. 11 “Please, take my blessing that is brought to you because Yah has dwelt graciously with me and because I have enough”. So he urged him and he took it. 12 Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey. Let us go and I will go before you”. 13 But Yahqob said to him, “My master knows that the children are weak and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. 14 “Please let my master go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me and the children are able to endure until I come to my master in Seir”. 15 And Esau said, “Now let me leave with you some of the people who are with me”. But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favor in the sight of my master”. 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 And Yahqob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth (literally Booths).

Yahqob Comes to Canaan

18 Then Yahqob came safely to the city of Shechem which is in the land of Canaan when he came from Padan Aram and he pitched his tent before the city. 19 And he bought the parcel of land where he had pitched his tent from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father for one hundred pieces of money. 20 Then he erected and altar there and called it YL Ylohe Ysrayl (literally Yah the Power of Ysrayl).

Chapter 34: The Dinah Incident

1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leyah whom she had borne to Yahqob went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country saw her, he took her and lay with her and violated her. 3 His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Yahqob and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife”. 5 And Yahqob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field so Yahqob held his peace until they came. 6 Then Hamor the father of Shemchem went out to Yahqob to speak with him. 7 And the sons of Yahqob came in from the field when they heard it and the men were grieved and very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Ysrayl by lying with Yahqob’s daughter, a thing which ought not to be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife”. 9 “And make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us and take our daughters to yourselves”. 10 “So you shall dwell with us and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it and acquire possessions for yourselves in it”. 11 Then Shechem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes and whatever you say to me I will give”. 12 “Ask me ever so much dowry and gift and I will give according to what you say to me but give me the young woman as a wife”. 13 But the sons of Yahqob answered Shechem and Hamor his father and spoke deceitfully because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14 And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised for that would be a reproach to us”. 15 “But on this condition we will consent to you. If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised”. 16 “Then we will give our daughters to you and we will take your daughters to us and we will dwell with you and we will become one people”. 17 “But if you will not heed us and be circumcised then we will take our daughter and be gone”. 18 And their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor’s son. 19 So the young man did not delay to do the thing because he delighted in Yahqob’s daughter. He was more honorable than all the household of his father. 20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city and spoke with the men of their city saying. 21 “These men are at peace with us. Therefore let them dwell in the land and trade in it. For indeed the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us as wives and let us give them our daughters. 22 “Only on this condition will the men consent to dwell with us, to be one people if every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised”. 23 “Will not their livestock, their property and every animal of theirs be ours? Only let us consent to them and they will dwell with us”. 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city heeded Hamor and Shechem his son. Every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain that two of the sons of Yahqob, Shimeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males. 26 And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and went out. 27 The sons of Yahqob came upon the slain and plundered the city because their sister had been defiled. 28 They took their sheep, their oxen and their donkeys, what was in the city and what was in the field. 29 And all their wealth. All their little ones and their wives they took captive and they plundered even all that was in the houses. 30 Then Yahqob said to Shimeon and Levi, “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious (a stench) among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites and since I am few in number they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I”. 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a harlot (whore)”?

1 Now Yahqob heard the words of Laban’s sons saying, “Yahqob has taken away all that was our father’s and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this wealth”. 2 And Yahqob saw the countenance of Laban and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before. 3 Then Yah said to Yahqob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your family and I will be with you”. 4 So Yahqob sent and called Rachyl and Leyah to the field, to his flock. 5 And said to them, “I see your father’s countenance, that it is not favorable toward me as before but Yah of my father has been with me”. 6 “And you know that with all my might I have served your father”. 7 “Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times but Yah did not allow him to hurt me”. 8 “If he said thus: “The speckled shall be your wages then all the flocks bore speckled”. And if he said thus: “The streaked shall be your wages, then all the flocks bore streaked”. 9 “So Yah has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me”. 10 “And it happened, at that time when the flocks conceived that I lifted my eyes and saw in a dream and behold the rams which leaped upon the flocks were streaked, speckled and gray-spotted”. 11 “Then the angel of Yah spoke to me in a dream saying, “Yahqob”. And I said, “Here I am”. 12 “And He said, “Lift your eyes now and see, all the rams which leap on the flocks are streaked, speckled and gray spotted for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you”. 13 “I am Yah of Bethyl where you anointed the pillar and where you made a vow to Me. Now arise, get out of this land and return to the land of your family”. 14 Then Rachyl and Leyah answered and said to him, “Is there still any portion of inheritance for us in our father’s house”? 15 “Are we not considered strangers by him”? For he has sold us and also completely consumed our money”. 16 “For all these riches which Yah has taken from our father are really ours and our children’s. Now then, whatever Yah has said to you, do it”. 17 Then Yahqob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels. 18 And he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padan Aram, to go to his father Yitzshaq in the land of Canaan. 19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep and Rachyl had stolen the household idols that were her father’s. 20 And Yahqob stole away, unknown to Laban the Syrian in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. 21 So he fled with all that he had. He arose and crossed the river and headed toward the mountains of Gilead.

Laban Pursues Yahqob

22 And Laban was told on the third day that Yahqob had fled. 23 Then he took his brethren with him and pursued him for seven days journey and he overtook him in the mountains of Gilead. 24 But Yah had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said to him, “Be careful that you speak to Yahqob neigher good nor bad”. 25 So Laban overtook Yahqob. Now Yahqob had pitched his tent in the mountains and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mountains of Gilead. 26 And Laban said to Yahqob: “What have you done, that you have stolen away unknown to me and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword”? 27 “Why did you flee away secretly and steal away from me and not tell me for I might have sent you away with joy and songs, with timbrel and harp”? 28 “And you did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters. Now you have done foolishly in so doing”. 29 “It is in my power to do you harm but Yah of your father spoke to me last night saying, “Be careful that you speak to Yahqob neither good nor bad”. 30 “And now you have surely gone because you greatly long for your father’s house but why did you steal my gods”? 31 Then Yahqob answered and said to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I said, “Perhaps you would take your daughters from me by force”. 32 “With whomever you find your gods, do not let him live. In the presence of our brethren, identify what I have of yours and take it with you”. For Yahqob did not know that Rachyl had stolen them. 33 And Laban went into Yahqob’s tent, into Leyah’s tent and into the two maids tents but he did not find them. Then he went out of Leyah’s tent and entered Rachyl’s tent. 34 Now Rachyl had taken the household idols, put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. And Laban searched all about the tent but did not find them. 35 And she said to her father, “Let it not displease my master that I cannot arise before you for the manner of women is with me”. And he searched but did not find the household idols. 36 Then Yahqob was angry and rebuked Laban and Yahqob answered and said Laban: “What is my trespass? What is my sin that you have so hotly pursued me?” 37 “Although you have searched all my things, what part of your household things have you found? Set it here before my brethren and your brethren that they may judge between us both”! 38 “These twenty years I have been with you, your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried their young and I have not eaten the rams of your flock”. 39 “That which was torn by beasts, I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it. You required it from my hand whether stolen by day or stolen by night”. 40 “There I was! In the day the drought consumed me and the frost by night and my sleep departed from my eyes”. 41 “Thus I have been in your house twenty years. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock and you have changed my wages ten times”. 42 “Unless Yah of my father, the Almighty of Abraham and the fear of Yitzshaq had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. Yah has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night”.

Laban’s Covenant with Yahqob

43 And Laban answered and said to Yahqob, “These daughters are my daughters and these children are my children and this flock is my flock. All that you see is mine. But what can I do this day to these my daughters or to their children whom they have borne”? 44 “Now therefore, come, let us make a covenant, you and I and let it be a witness between you and me”. 45 So Yahqob took a stone and set it up as a pillar. 46 Then Yahqob said to his brethren, “Gather stones”. And they took stones and made a heap and they ate there on the heap. 47 Laban called it Yegar Shahadutha (literally in Aramaic, Heap of Witness) but Yahqob called it Galeed (literally in Hebrew, Heap of Witness). 48 And Laban said, “This heap is a witness between you and me this day”. Therefore its name was called Galeed. 49 Also Mizpah (literally watch) because he said, “May Yah watch between you and me when we are absent one from another”. 50 “If you afflict my daughters or if you take other wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us–see, Yah is witness between you and me”! 51 Then Laban said to Yahqob, “Here is this heap and here is this pillar which I have place between you and me”. 52 “This heap is a witness and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you and you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm”. 53 “The Almighty of Abraham, The Power of Nahor and the Almighty of their father judge between us”. And Yahqob swore by the fear of his father Yitzshaq. 54 Then Yahqob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his brethren to eat bread. And they ate bread and stayed all night on the mountain. 55 And early in the morning Laban arose and kissed his sons and daughters and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his place.

Chapter 32: Esau Comes to Meet Yahqob

1 So Yahqob went on his way and the angels of Yah met him. 2 When Yahqob saw them he said, “This is Yah’s camp”. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim (literally double camp). 3 Then Yahqob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4 And he commanded them saying, “Speak thus to my master Esau, “Thus your servant Yahqob says: “I have dwelt with Laban and stayed there until now”. 5 “I have oxen, donkeys, flocks and male and female servants and I have sent to tell my master that I may find favor in your sight”. 6 Then the messengers returned to Yahqob saying, “We came to your brother Esau and he also is coming to meet you and four hundred men are with him”. 7 So Yahqob was greatly afraid and distressed and he divided the people that were with him and the flocks and herds and camels into two companies. 8 And he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the other company which is left will escape”. 9 Then Yahqob said, “O Yah of my father Abraham and Yah of my father Yitzshaq, Yah who said to me, “Return to your country and to your family and I will deal well with you”. 10 “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant for I crossed over this Yordan with my staff and now I have become two companies”. 11 “Deliver me, I pray from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau for I fear him lest he come and attack me and the mother(s) with the children”. 12 “For You said, “I will surely treat you well and make your descendants as the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude”. 13 So he lodged there that same night and took what came to his hand as a present for Esau his brother. 14 Two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams. 15 Thirty milk camels with their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. 16 Then he delivered them to the hand of his servants, every drove by itself and said to his servants, “Pass over before me and put some distance between successive droves”. 17 And he commanded the first one saying, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you saying, “To whom do you belong and where are you going? Whose are these in front of you”? 18 “Then you shall say, “They are your servant Yahqob’s. It is a present sent to my master Esau. And behold, he is behind us”. 19 So he commanded the second, the third and all who followed the droves saying, “In this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him”. 20 “And also say, “Behold, your servant Yahqob is behind us”. For he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me and afterward I will see his face perhaps he will accept me”. 21 So the present went on over before him but he himself lodged that night in the camp.

Wrestling with Yah

22 And he arose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed over the ford of Yabbok. 23 He took them, sent them over the brook and sent over what he had. 24 Then Yahqob was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. 25 Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip and the socket of Yahqob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, “Let Me go for the day breaks”. But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me”! 27 So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Yahqob”. 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Yahqob but Ysrayl (literally to rule or prevail with the Power or Yah) for you have struggled (endured) with Yah and with men and have prevailed (overcame)”. 29 Then Yahqob asked saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray”. And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name”? And He blessed him there. 30 So Yahqob called the name of the place Peniyah (literally Face of Yah) “For I have seen Yah face to face and my life is preserved”. 31 Just as he crossed over Penuyl (or Peniyah) the sun rose on him and he limped on his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Children of Ysrayl do not eat the muscle that shrank which is on the hip socket because He touched the socket of Yahqob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.

1 So Yahqob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east. 2 And he looked and saw a well in the field and behold there were three flocks of sheep lying by it. For out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well’s mouth. 3 Now all the flocks would be gathered there and they would roll the stone from the well’s mouth, water the sheep and put the stone back in its place on the well’s mouth. 4 And Yahqob said to them, “My brothers where are you from”? And they said, “We are from Haran”. 5 Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor”? And they said, “We know him”. 6 So he said to them, “Is he well? and they said, “He is well. And look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep”. 7 Then he said, “Look, it is still high day. It is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep and go and feed them”. 8 But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together and they have rolled the stone from the well’s mouth. Then we water the sheep”. 9 Now while he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep for she was a shepherdess. 10 And it came to pass, when Yahqob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Yahqob went near and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 11 Then Yahqob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept. 12 And Yahqob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Ribqahyah’s son. So she ran and told her father. 13 Then it came to pass, when Laban heard the report about Yahqob his sister’s son that he ran to meet him and embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. So he told Laban all these things. 14 And Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh”. And he stayed with him for a month.

Yahqob Marries Leyah (Leah) and Rachyl (Rachel)

15 Then Laban said to Yahqob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?” 16 Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leyah and the name of the younger was Rachyl. 17 Leyah’s eyes were weak but Rachyl was beautiful of form and appearance. 18 Now Yahqob loved Rachyl. So he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachyl your younger daughter”. 19 And Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me”. 20 So Yahqob served seven years for Rachyl and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her. 21 Then Yahqob said to Laban, “Give me my wife for my days are fulfilled that I may go into her”. 22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast. 23 Now it came to pass in the evening that he took Leyah his daughter and brought her to Yahqob and he went into her. 24 And Laban gave his made Zilpah to his daughter Leyah as a maid. 25 So it came to pass in the morning, that behold it was Leyah. And he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachyl that I served you? Why then have you deceived me”? 26 And Laban said, “It must not be done so in our country to give the younger before the firstborn”. 27 “Fulfill her week and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years”. 28 Then Yahqob did so and fulfilled her week. So he gave him his daughter Rachyl as wife also. 29 And Laban gave his maid Bilhah to his daughter Rachyl as a maid. 30 Then Yahqob also went into Rachyl and he also loved Rachyl more than Leyah. And he served with Laban still another seven years.

The Children of Yahqob

31 Then Yah saw that Leyah was unloved. He opened her womb but Rachyl was barren. 32 So Leyah conceived and bore a son and she called his name Reuben (literally see, a son) for she said, “Yah has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me”. 33 Then she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because Yah has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also”. And she called his name Simeon or Shimeon (literally heard). 34 She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me because I have borne him three sons”. Therefore his name was called Levi or Lewi (literally attached). 35 And she conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now I will praise Yah”. Therefore she called his name Yahudah (Judah) (literally praise). Then she stopped bearing.

Chapter 30

1 Now when Rachyl saw that she bore Yahqob no children, Rachyl envied her sister and said to Yahqob, “Give me children or else I die”! 2 And Yahqob’s anger was aroused against Rachyl and he said, “Am I in the place of Yah who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb”? 3 So she said, “Here is my maid Bilhah. Go in to her and she will bear a child on my knees that I also may have children by her”. 4 Then she gave him Bilhah her maid as wife and Yahqob went in to her. 5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Yahqob a son. 6 Then Rachyl said, “Yah has judged my case and He has also heard my voice and given me a son. Therefore she called his name Dan (literally judge). 7 And Rachyl’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Yahqob a second son. 8 Then Rachyl said, “With great wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister and indeed I have prevailed”. So she called his name Naphtali (literally my wrestlings) 9 When Leyah saw that she had stopped bearing, she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Yahqob as wife. 10 And Leyah’s maid Zilpah bore Yahqob a son. 11 Then Leyah said, ” A troop comes! (fortune). So she named him Gad (fortune or troop) 12 And Leyah’s maid Zilpah bore Yahqob a second son. 13 Then Leah said, “I am happy for the daughters will call me blessed”. So she called his name Asher (happy). 14 Now Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leyah. Then Rachyl said to Leyah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes”. 15 But she said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachyl said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes”. 16 When Yahqob came out of the field in the evening, Leyah went out to meet him and said, “You must come into me for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes”. And he lay with her that night. 17 And Yah listened to Leyah and she conceived and bore Yahqob a fifth son. 18 Leyah said, “Yah has given me my wagers because I have given my maid to my husband”. So she called his name Issachar (literally wages). 19 Then Leyah conceived again and bore Yahqob a sixth son. 20 And Leyah said, “Yah has endowed me with a good endowment. Now my husband will dwell with me because I have borne him six sons”. So she called his name Zebulon (literally dwelling). 21 Afterward, she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah. 22 Then Yah remembered Rachyl and Yah listened to her and opened her womb. 23 And she conceived and bore a son and said, “Yah has taken away my reproach”. 24 So she called his name Yoseph (literally He will add) and said, “Yah shall add to me another son”.

Yahqob’s Agreement with Laban

25 And it came to pass, when Rachyl had borne Yoseph that Yahqob said to Laban, “Send me away that I may go to my own place and to my country”. 26 “Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you and let me go for you know my service which I have done for you”. 27 And Laban said to him, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that Yah has blessed me for your sake”. 28 Then he said, “Name me your wages and I will give it”. 29 So Yahqob said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock has been with me”. 30 “For what you had before I came was little and it has increased to a great amount. Yah has blessed you since my coming. And now, when shall I also provide for my house”? 31 So he said, “What shall I give you”? And Yahqob said, “You shall not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep your flocks”. 32 “Let me pass through all your flock today, removing from there all the speckled and spotted sheep and all the brown ones among the lambs and the spotted and speckled among the goats and these shall be my wages. 33 “So my righteousness will answer for me in time to come when the subject of my wages comes before you. Everyone that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the lambs will be considered stolen, if it is with me”. 34 And Laban said, “Oh, that it were according to your word”! 35 So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it and all the brown ones among the lambs and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36 Then he put three days journey between himself and Yahqob and Yahqob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. 37 Now Yahqob took for himself rods of green popular and of the almond and chestnut trees, peeled, white strips in them and exposed the white which was in the rods. 38 And the rods which he had peeled, he set before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink so that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39 So the flocks conceived before the rods and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled and spotted. 40 Then Yahqob separated the lambs and made the flocks face toward the streaked and all the brown in the flock of Laban but he put his own flocks by themselves and did not put them with Laban’s flock. 41 And it came to pass, whenever the stronger livestock conceived, that Yahqob placed the robs before the eyes of the livestock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42 But when the flocks were feeble, he did not put them in so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Yahqob’s. 43 Thus the man became exceedingly prosperous and had large flocks, female and male servants and camels and donkeys.

1 Now it came to pass, when Yitzshaq was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”. And he answered him, “Here I am”. 2 Then he said, “Behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death”. 3 “Now therefore, please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow and go out to the field and hunt game for me”. 4 “And make me savory food such as I love and bring it to me that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die”. 5 Now Ribqahyah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt game and to bring it. 6 So Ribqahyah spoke to Yahqob her son, saying “Indeed I heard your father speak to Esau your brother saying 7 “Bring me game and make savory food for me that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of Yah before my death”. 8 “Now therefore, my son obey my voice according to what I command you”. 9 “Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves”. 10 “Then you shall take it to your father that he may eat it and that he may bless you before his death”. 11 And Yahqob said to Ribqahyah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth-skinned man”. 12 “Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing”. 13 But his mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice and go, get them for me”. 14 And he went and got them and brought them to his mother and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. 15 Then Ribqahyah took the choice clothes of her elder son Esau which were with her in the house and put them on Yahqob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 Then she gave the savory food and the bread which she had prepared into the hand of her son Yahqob. 18 So he went to his father and said, “My father”. And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son”? 19 Yahqob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done just as you told me. Please arise, sit and eat of my game that your soul may bless me”. 20 But Yitzshaq said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son”? And he said, “Because Yah your Power brought it to me”. 21 Then Yitzshaq said to Yahqob, “Please come near that I may feel you, my son whether you are really my son Esau or not”. 22 So Yahqob went near to Yitzshaq his father and he felt him and said, “The voice is Yahqob’s voice but the hands are the hands of Esau”. 23 And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. 24 Then he said, ” Are you really my son Esau”? He said, “I am”. 25 He said, “Bring it near to me and I will eat of my son’s game so that my soul may bless you”. So he brought it near to him and he ate and he brought him wine and he drank. 26 Then his father Yitzshaq said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son”. 27 And he came near and kissed him and he smelled the smell of his clothing and blessed him and said: “Surely the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which Yah has blessed”. 28 “Therefore may Yah give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth. And plenty of grain and wine”. 29 “Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers and let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you and blessed be those who bless you”!

Esau’s Lost Hope

30 Now it happened, as soon as Yitzshaq had finished blessing Yahqob and Yahqob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Yitzshaq that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also had made savory food and brought it to his father and said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game that your soul may bless me”. 32 And his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you”? So he said, “I am your son, your firstborn Esau”. 33 Then Isaac trembled exceedingly and said, “Who? Where is the one who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it before you came and I have blessed him and indeed he shall be blessed”. 34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me–me also, O my father”! 35 But he said, “Your brother came with deceit and has taken away your blessing”. 36 And Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Yahqob”? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright and now look he has taken away my blessing”! And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me”? 37 Then Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Indeed I have made him your master and all his brethren, I have given to him as servants with grain and wine I have sustained him. What shall I do now for you, my son”? 38 And Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father”? Bless me–me also O my father”! And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. 39 Then Yitshaq his father answered and said to him: “Behold your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth and of the dew of heaven from above. 40 By your sword you shall live and you shall serve your brother. And it shall come to pass, when you become restless that you shall break his yoke from your neck”.

Yahqob Escapes from Esau

41 So Esau hated Yahqob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him and Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Yahqob”. 42 And the words of Esau her older son were told to Ribqahyah. So she sent and called Yahqob her younger son and said to him, “Surely your brother Esau comforts himself concerning you by intending to kill you”. 43 “Now therefore, my son obey my voice. Arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran. 44 “And stay with him a few days until your brother’s fury turns away. 45 “Until your brother’s anger turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereaved also of you both in one day”? 46 And Ribqahyah said Yitzshaq, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Yahqob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will life be to me”?

Chapter 28

1 Then Isaac called Yahqob and blessed him and charged him and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan”. 2 “Arise, go to Padan Aram to the house of Bethuyl your mother’s father and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 “May Yah Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you. That you may be an assembly of peoples. 4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you. That you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which Yah gave to Abraham”. 5 So Isaac sent Yahqob away and he went to Paran Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuyl the Syrian, the brother of Ribqahyah, the mother of Yahqob and Esau.

Esau Marries Mahalath

6 Esau saw that Yitzshaq had blessed Yahqob and sent him away to Padan Aram to take himself a wife from there and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan”. 7 And that Yahqob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paran Aram. 8 Also Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please his father Yitzshaq. 9 So Esau went to Ishmayl and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmayl, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebayoth to be his wife in addition to the wives he had.

Yahqob’s Vow at Bethyl

10 Now Yahqob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head and he lay down in that place to sleep. 12 Then he dreamed and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth and its top reached to heaven. And there the angels of Yah were ascending and descending on it. 13 And behold, Yah stood above it and said: “I am the Almighty Yah of Abraham your father and the Power of Yitzshaq. The land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants’. 14 “Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth. You shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed”. 15 “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you”. 16 Then Yahqob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely Yah is in this place and I did not know it”. 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the House of Yah and this is the gate of heaven”! 18 Then Yahqob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put at this head, set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. 19 And he called he name of that place Bethyl (literally House of Yah) but the name of that city had been Luz previously. 20 Then Yahqob made a vow saying, “If Yah will be with me and keep me in this way that I am going and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on 21 So that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then Yah shall be my Power. 22 “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be Yah’s House and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You”.

1 Abraham again took a wife and her name was Keturah. 2 And she bore him Zimran, Yokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. 3 Yokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim and Leummim. 4 And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Yitzshaq (Isaac). 6 But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had and while he was still living he sent them eastward away from Isaac his son to the country of the east.

Abraham’s Death and Burial

7 This is the sum of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived: one hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years and was gathered to his people. 9 And his sons Yitzshaq and Ishmayl buried him in the cave of Machpelah which is before Mamre in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite. 10 The field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried and Sarah his wife. 11 And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham that Yah blessed his son Isaac and Isaac dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi.

The Families of Ishmayl and Yitzshaq

12 Now this is the genealogy of Ishmayl, Abraham’s son whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maidservant bore to Abraham. 13 And these were the names of the sons of Ishmayl by their names according to their generations: The firstborn of Ishmayl, Nebayoth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa 15 Hadar (or Hadad), Tema, Yetur, Naphish and Kedemah. 16 These were the sons of Ishmayl and these were their names by their towns and their settlements, twelve princes according to their nations. 17 These were the years of the life of Ishmayl: one hundred and thirty-seven years and he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people. 18 (They dwelt from Havilah as far as Shur which is east of Egypt as you toward Assyria). He died in the presence of al his brethren. 19 This is the genealogy of Yitzshaq (Isaac), Abraham’s son. Abraham begot Isaac. 20 Yitzshaq was forty years old when he took Ribqahyah as wife, the daughter of Bethuyl the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. 21 Now Isaac pleaded with Yah for his wife because she was barren and Yah granted his plea and Ribqahyah his wife conceived. 22 But the children struggled together within her and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this”? So she went to inquire of Yah. 23 And Yah said to her: “Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples shall be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger”. 24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over so they called his name Esau (meaning hairy). 26 Afterward his brother came out and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel so his name was called Yahqob (meaning supplanter). Yitzshaq was sixty years old when she bore them. 27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field but Yahqob (Jacob) was a mild man dwelling in tents. 28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game but Ribqahyah loved Yahqob.

Esau Sells His Birthright

29 Now Yahqob cooked a stew and Esau came in from the field and he was weary. 30 And Esau said to Yahqob, “Please feed me with that same red stew for I am weary”. Therefore his name was called Edom (literally Red). 31 But Yahqob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day”. 32 And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die so what is this birthright to me”? 33 Then Yahqob said, “Swear to me as of this day”. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Yahqob. 34 And Yahqob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. Then he ate and drank, arose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Chapter 26: Yitzshaq and Abimelech

1 There was a famine in the land besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2 Then Yah appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land of which I shall tell you”. 3 “Dwell in this land and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and your descendants I give all these lands and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. 4 “And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven. I will give to your descendants all these lands and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed”. 5 “Because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statues and My laws”. 6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. 7 And the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister”. For he was afraid to say, “She is my wife” because he thought, “Lest the men of the place kill me for Ribqahyah because she is beautiful to behold”. 8 Now it came to pass, when he had been there a long time that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked through a window and saw and there was Yitzshaq showing endearment to Ribqahyah his wife. 9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Quite obviously she is your wife so how could you say, “She is my sister”? Yitzshaq said to him, “Because I said, “Lest I die on account of her”. 10 And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us”? One of the people might soon have lain with your wife and you would have brought guilt on us”. 11 So Abimelech charged all his people saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death”. 12 Then Yitzshaq sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold and Yah blessed him. 13 The man began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous. 14 For he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him. 15 Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father and they had filled them with earth. 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us for you are much mightier than we”. 17 Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar and dwelt there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names which his father had called them. 19 Also Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of running water there. 20 But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen saying, “The water is ours”. So he called the name of the well Esek (literally Quarrel) because they quarreled with him. 21 Then they dug another well and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitnah (literally Enmity). 22 And he moved from there and dug another well and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth (literally Spaciousness) because he said, “For now Yah has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land”. 23 Then he went up from there to Beersheba. 24 And Yah appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the Almighty of your father Abraham. Do not fear for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake”. 25 So he built an altar there and called on the name of Yah and he pitched his tent there and there Isaac’s servants dug a well. 26 Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends and Phichol the commander of his army. 27 And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me since you hate me and have sent me away from you”? 28 But they said, “We have certainly seen that Yah is with you. So we said, “Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us and let us make a covenant with you”. 29 “That you will do us no harm since we have not touched you and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of Yah. 30 So he made them a feast and they ate and drank. 31 Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another and Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace. 32 It came to pass the same day that Issac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug and said to him, “We have found water”. 33 So he called it Shebah (literally Oath or Seven). Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba (literally Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven) to this day. 34 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Yudith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 And they were a grief of mind to Yitzshaq and Ribqahyah.

1 Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years. These were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 So Sarah died in Kiryath Arba (that is Hebron) in the land of Canaan and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 Then Abraham stood up from before his dead and spoke to the sons of Heth saying. 4 “I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight”. 5 And the sons of Heth answered Abraham saying to him. 6 “Hear us, my master: You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place that you may bury your dead”. 7 Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. 8 And he spoke with them saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me. 9 “That he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he has which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price as property for a burial place among you”. 10 Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city saying. 11 “No my master hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead”! 12 Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land. 13 And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land saying, ” If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field. Take it from me and I will bury my dead there”. 14 And Ephron answered Abraham saying to him. 15 “My master, listen to me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead”. 16 And Abraham listened to Ephron and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants. 17 So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it and all the trees that were in the field which were within all the surrounding borders were deeded. 18 To Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.

Chapter 24: A Wife for Isaac (Yitzshaq)

1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age and Yah had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh”. 3 “And I will make you swear by Yah, the Almighty of heaven and the Almighty of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell”. 4 “But you shall go to my county and to my family and take a wife for my son Yitzshaq”. 5 And the servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I take your son back to the land from which you came”? 6 But Abraham said to him, “Beware that you do not take my son back there”. 7 “The Almighty Yah of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family and who spoke to me and swore to me saying, “To our descendants I give this land”. “He will send His angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there”. 8 “And if the woman is not willing to follow you then you will be released from this oath. Only do not take my son back there”. 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. 10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed for all his master’s goods were in his hand. And he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. 11 And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water. 12 Then he said, “O Almighty Yah of my master Abraham, please give me success this day and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 “Behold, here I stand by the well of water and the daughters of men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, “Please let down your pitcher that I may drink” and she says, “Drink and I will also give your camels a drink, let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac”. “And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master”. 15 And it happened, before he had finished speaking that behold, Ribqahyah who was born to Bethuyl, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. 16 Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin. No man had known her. And she went down to the well filled her pitcher and came up. 17 And the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher”. 18 So she said, “Drink, my master”. Then she quickly let her pitcher down to her hand and gave him a drink. 19 And when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also until they have finished drinking”. 20 Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water and drew for all his camels. 21 And the man wondering at her remained silent so as to know whether Yah had made his journey prosperous or not. 22 So it was when the camels had finished drinking that the man took a golden nose ring weighing half a shekel and two bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels of gold. 23 And said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge”? 24 So she said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuyl, Milcah’s son whom she bore to Nahor”. 25 Moreover she said to him, “We have both straw and feed enough and room to lodge”. 26 Then the man bowed down his head and worshipped Yah. 27 And he said, “Blessed be the Almighty of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on the way, Yah led me to the house of my master’s brethren”. 28 So the young woman ran and told her mother’s household these things. 29 Now Ribqahyah had a brother whose name was Laban and Laban ran out to the man by the well. 30 So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists and when he heard the words of his sister Ribqahyah saying, “Thus the man spoke to me”. That he went to the man. And there he stood by the camels at the well. 31 And he said, “Come in O blessed of Yah! Why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house and a place for the camels”. 32 Then the man came to the house. And he unloaded the camels and provided straw and feed for the camels and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. 33 Food was set before him to eat but he said, “I will not eat until I have told about my errand”. And he said, “Speak on”. 34 So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant”.

35 “Yah has blessed my master greatly and he has become great and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants and camels and donkeys”. 36 “And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old and to him he has given all that he has”. 37 “Now my master made me swear saying, “You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell”. 38 “But you shall go to my father’s house and to my family and take a wife for my son”. 39 “And I said to my master, “Perhaps the woman will not follow me”. 40 “But he said to me, “Yah before whom I walk will send His angel with you and prosper your way and you shall take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house. 41 “You will be clear from this oath when you arrive among my family. For if they will not give her to you, then you will be released from my oath”. 42 “And this day I came to the well and said, “O Almighty Yah of my master Abraham, if You will now prosper the way in which I go”. 43 “Behold, I stand by the well of water and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink”. 44 “And she says to me, “Drink and I will draw for your camels also”. “Let her be the woman whom Yah has appointed for my master’s son”. 45 “But before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Ribqahyah coming out with her pitcher on her shoulder and she went down to the well and drew water. And I said to her, “Please let me drink”. 46 “And she made haste and let her pitcher down from her shoulder and said, “Drink and I will give your camels a drink also”. “So I drank and she gave the camels a drink also”. 47 “Then I asked her and said, “Whose daughter are you”? And she said, “The daughter of Bethuyl, Nahor’s son whom Milcah bore to him”. “So I put the nose ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists”. 48 “And I bowed my head and worshipped Yah and blessed Almighty Yah of my master Abraham who had led me in the way of truth to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49 “Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me that I may turn to the right hand or to the left”. 50 Then Laban and Bethuyl answered and said, “The thing comes from Yah, we cannot speak to you either bad or good”. 51 “Here is Ribqahyah before you. Take her and go and let her be your master’s son’s wife as Yah has spoken”. 52 And it came to pass, when Abraham’s servant heard their words that he worshipped Yah bowing himself to the earth. 53 Then the servant brought out ornaments of silver, ornaments of gold and clothing and gave them to Ribqahyah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. 54 And he and the men who were with him ate and drank and stayed all night. Then they arose in the morning and he said, “Send me away to my master”. 55 But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days at least ten. After that she may go”. 56 And he said to them, “Do not hinder me, since Yah has prospered my way. Send me away so that I may go to my master”. 57 So they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her personally”. 58 Then they called Ribqahyah and said to her, “Will you go with this man”? And she said, “I will go”. 59 So they sent away Ribqahyah their sister and her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. 60 And they blessed Ribqahyah and said to her: “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands and may your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them”. 61 Then Ribqahyah and her maids arose and they rode on the camels and followed the man. So the servant took Ribqahyah and departed. 62 Now Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi for he dwelt in the south. 63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening and he lifted his eyes and looked and there the camels were coming. 64 Then Ribqahyah lifted her eyes and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel. 65 For she had said to the servant, “Who is this man walking in the field to meet us”? The servant said, “It is my master”. So she took a veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent and took Ribqahyah and she became his wife and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

1 And Yah visited Sarah as He had said and Yah did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which Yah had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac (Yitzshaq). 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old as Yah had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “Yah has made me laugh and all who hear will laugh with me”. 7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age”.

Hagar and Ishmayl Depart

8 So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned. 9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely Isaac (Yitzshaq)”. 11 And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. 12 But Yah said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice for in Isaac your seed shall be called. 13 “Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman because he is your seed”. 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and putting in on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water in the skin was used up and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. 16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy”. So she sat opposite him and lifted her voice and wept. 17 And Yah heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of Yah called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not for Yah has heard the voice of the lad where he is”. 18 “Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand for I will make him a great nation”. 19 Then Yah opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink. 20 So Yah was with the lad and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Covenant with Abimelech

22 And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the commander of his army spoke to Abraham saying, “Yah is with you in all that you do”. 23 “Now therefore, swear to me by Yah that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring or with my posterity but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt”. 24 And Abraham said, “I will swear”. 25 Then Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech’s servants had seized. 26 And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing. You did not tell me nor had I heard of it until today”. 27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech and the two of them made a covenant. 28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29 Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves”? 30 And he said, “You will take these seven ewe lambs from my hand that they may be my witness that I have dug this well”. 31 Therefore he called that place Beersheba (literally Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven) because the two of them swore an oath there. 32. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba. So Abimelech rose with Phichol, the commander of his army and they returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Then Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and there called on the name of Yah, the Everlasting Power. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines many days.

Chapter 22: Abraham’s Faith confirmed

1 Now it came to pass after these things that Yah tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham”! And he said, “Here I am”. 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriyah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you”. 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which Yah had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, the lad (young man) and I will go yonder and worship and we will come back to you”. 6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son and he took the fire in his hand and a knife and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father”! And he said, “Here I am, my son”. Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt offering”? 8 And Abraham said, “My son, Yah will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering”. So the two of them went together. 9 Then they came to the place of which Yah had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of Yah called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham”! So he said, “Here I am”. 12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him for now I know that you fear Yah since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me”. 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, Yah-Will-Provide (or Yah Yireh in Hebrew) as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of Yah it shall be provided”. 15 Then the angel of Yah called to Abraham a second time out of heaven. 16 And said: “By Myself I have sworn says Yah because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son”. 17 “Blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies”. 18 “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed My voice”. 19 So Abraham returned to his young men and they rose and went together to Beersheba and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

The Family of Nahor

20 Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham saying, “Indeed Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor”. 21 “Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuyl the father of Aram”. 22 “Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Yidlaph and Bethuyl”. 23 And Bethuyl begot Rebekah (Ribqahyah in Hebrew or Rebecca). These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash and Maachah.

1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2 And he said, “Here now, my masters, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise early and go on your way”. And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square”. 3 But he insisted strongly. So they turned to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread and they ate. 4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom both old and young, all the people from every quarter surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally”. 6 So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him. 7 And said, “Please, my brothers do not do so wickedly”! 8 “See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Please let me bring them out to you and you may do to them as you wish. Only do nothing to these men since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof”. 9 And they said, “Stand back”! Then they said, “This one came in to stay here and he keeps acting as a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them”. So they pressed hard against the man Lot and came near to break down the door. 10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them and shut the door. 11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness both small and great so that they became weary trying to find the door.

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in law, your sons, your daughters and whomever you have in the city, take them out of this place”! 13 “For we will destroy this place because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of Yah and Yah has sent us to destroy it”. 14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who had married his daughters and said, “Get up, get out of this place for Yah will destroy this city”! But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking. 15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city”. 16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand and the hands of his two daughters, Yah being merciful to him and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that they said, “Escape for your Life”! “Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain”. “Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed”. 18 Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my masters”! 19 “Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die”. 20 “See now, this city is near enough to flee to and it is a little one. Please let me escape there (is it not a little one)? And my soul shall live”. 21 And he said to him, “See, I have favored you concerning this thing also in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken”. 22 “Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there”. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. 24 Then Yah rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from Yah out of the heavens. 25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground. 26 But his wife looked back behind him and she became a pillar of salt. 27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yah. 28 Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain and he saw and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 And it came to pass, when Yah destroyed the cities of the plain that Yah remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

The Descendants of Lot

30 Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains and his two daughters were with him for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. 31 Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old and there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth”. 32 “Come, let us make our father drink wine and we will lie with him that we may preserve the lineage of our father”. 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 34 It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night. Let us make him drink wine tonight also and you go in and lie with him that we may preserve the lineage of our father”. 35 Then they made their father drink wine that night also and the younger arose and lay with him and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. 36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi. He is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.

Chapter 20: Abraham and Abimelech

1 And Abraham journeyed from there to the south and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur and stayed in Gerar. 2 Now Abraham said of Sarah, his wife, “She is my sister”. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But Yah came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken for she is a man’s wife”. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her and he said, “Master, will You slay a righteous nation also”? 5 “Did he not say to me, “She is my sister”? And she even she herself said, “He is my brother”. “In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this”. 6 And Yah said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me, therefore I did not let you touch her”. 7 “Now therefore, restore the man’s wife for he is a prophet and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours”. 8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing and the men were very much afraid. 9 And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I offended you that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done”. 10 Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view that you have done this thing”? 11 And Abraham said, “Because I thought surely the fear of Yah is not in this place and they will kill me on account of my wife”. 12 “But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother and she became my wife”. 13 “And it came to pass, when Yah caused me to wander from my father’s house that I said to her, “This is your kindness that you should do for me in every place wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother”. 14 Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen and male and female servants and gave them to Abraham and he restored Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “See, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you”. 16 Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Indeed this vindicates you (literally it is a covering of the eyes for you) before all who are with you and before everybody”. Thus she was rebuked. 17 So Abraham prayed to Yah and Yah healed Abimelech, his wife and his female servants. Then they bore children. 18 For Yah had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.